Wisewoman: Personal Burn Remedies

As usual, this post is not a substitute for good judgement or for medical treatment. I am simply sharing what I do for very minor burns that I judge do not require an emergency office visit. I take care of such minor burns with several treatments that I find very helpful to taking care of myself and my family.

The first remedy that I keep on hand when I’m away from the house is a very small vial of lavendar essential oil. I don’t like to use this remedy unless I have no other option for treatment handy and the burn happens to be nearly bad enough to need medical treatment for. If it would be more than a few minutes before I can treat a minor burn at home and I have to continue with what I’m doing, risking infection in the burn, then I smear the burn with Lavendar oil. This helps relieve the pain and it also seems to have an antiseptic property to it that has kept me from ever having an infected burn when I’ve used it. However, it will cause the burn to scar a bit.

I know that aromatherapists swear that it doesn’t, but I work frequently around bon fires. I am burned sometimes as often as several times a month. Each time I use my home remedies, I have no scar. Each time I use my lavendar oil, I have a scar. You do the math. *smiles*

I think it scars because the lavendar oil dries the burn out so rapidly that it doesn’t have a chance to repair the skin before the surface of it is exposed to irritants. I believe that burns need the moisture that is naturally made by the body to protect it, for a day or two before any drying agent is put on it. Personal opinion, of course.

Now, I don’t bother much with pain relievers. I use Reiki for pain. Over the counter pain relievers bother my fybromyalgia, so I don’t take them. I suffer it out until the Reiki takes effect. Oh…and I am very careful not to touch the burn during Reiki treatments, by the way.

Other members of my family want something for the pain, however, so we use either the lavendar oil, which is really quite effective for pain relief for both burns and head aches or we use homeopathic arnica. The kind I get comes from my Osteopath, who prepares it for me. It’s 200c per dose. The kind that you can get at health food grocers generally is only about 30c. Usual one dose, perhaps two is enough to treat myself at home. If I’ve got to use the stuff from the grocers, I takes about five doses before I achieve relief.

Again, in this case, I can easily carry the small vials of homeopathic arnica with me when I travel, so I do take it with me if I have others with me. Otherwise I just use Reiki and I don’t bother bringing it.

Now at home, my remedies for minor burns are vitamins, aloe vera gel and grape seed oil.

We each need certain vitamins to replace cells in our body, primary of which is folic acid. If we don’t get enough, we will be literally unable to heal wounds, so that’s a top priority. Also, skin cells require vitamin E, so I make sure that my multivitamin has that in it. If I have gel caps of Vitamin E, and no grape seed oil, I may smear the fluid from the Vitamin E capsule on my burn instead. But in general, I take the vitamins normally by mouth and then focus on other measures.

Aloe Vera is a well known remedy for all sorts of minor skin injuries and ills. I use it on burns liberally. I make sure to buy a pump bottle instead of a flip cap so that the gel is kept more sanitary too. Aloe Vera is a well known to purported to reduce scaring, burning, irritation, and swelling in minor cuts and burns….and it does do all those things for me and for my family.

As for grape seed oil, that’s basically my chosen cure all for all ills of the skin. You can get bottles of it at the grocery store and it’s healthful in numerous ways for many common ills, not to mention it makes fabulous massage oil! It helps with nearly everything that could make the skin uncomfortable in my opinion and I use it liberally; even on burns. It keeps the burn moist after showers, so that it doesn’t become itchy or scar. The combination of aloe vera gel and grape seed oil seems to provide a protective barrier for the burn, while it heals.

Each day, I wash the burn with soap and water when I shower, I take my multi vitamins, put aloe and grape seed oil on it and I treat it with Reiki, until it’s healed. Works like a charm and I very rarely have any scars from these treatments, with the exception of the Lavendar essential oil.

If you choose to try any of these remedies to care for you and your family, please do so at your own risk.